


Holed Below the Waterline

by DancouMaryuu



Series: A Zootopian Miscellany [10]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Inherent in the System, One-Shot, Quickie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24409708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancouMaryuu/pseuds/DancouMaryuu
Summary: The way Bogo saw it, he was already a crooked cop.
Series: A Zootopian Miscellany [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1177382
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Holed Below the Waterline

**Author's Note:**

> Let me just note that I initially wrote and posted this _before_ I heard of the protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd, so this was by no means reflective of that.
> 
> As to how well this fic has aged regarding said protests… That's probably best left for you readers to decide.

Chief Bogo stared at the document in front of him before looking at the coywolf on the other side of his desk. “You’re certain about this, Koidel?”

“Yes, sir,” said Officer Janet Koidel, her eyes fixed to the window behind Bogo. “You said to take a few days to consider my decision. Well, it’s been three days, I’ve considered it, and there’s my decision.”

“Koidel, this is just so sudden. You did a good job with that case with the County Prosecutor’s Office.” Bogo thought he knew what would come next, but he wanted to be sure.

Koidel sighed. “I know, sir. The fact is, I’m not confident enough in my job to stay – I no longer feel like I can live up to what I joined the force for.”

Bogo could read between the lines. The discovery that a former County Prosecutor had been corrupt, and that the since-retired Chief County Prosecutor had covered it up to avoid a scandal was having ripple effects both in and out of the ZPD. The fact that the city had recently jailed two Mayors for corruption (among other things) hadn’t helped. Now piles of old cases would have to be re-examined, if not retried.

“I understand,” Bogo sighed. “Thank you for giving me notice.”

“Thank you for understanding, sir.” Koidel’s voice was barely above a whisper.

There was hardly a sound as the coywolf slid out of her chair and made her way out of the office.

A few seconds passed before Bogo buried his head in his hooves and groaned. Then he yanked open one of his desk drawers and pulled out an apple, biting almost half of it off instantly.

Bellwether had reopened wounds the city had still been healing from. Both Pred and Prey supremacists were attracting more supporters. Demonstrations were popping up here and there. Nihilistic terrorist groups like the Inner Wild Front were capitalizing on this discontent if their viral propaganda videos were any indication. The ZPD had already had to protect a Congressmammal from a would-be assassin. It was only a matter of time before something… broke.

Bogo hated this. He’d never wanted to be Chief; he’d only taken the damn job because all the other likely candidates were either bigoted, incompetent, corrupt, or some combination of the three. Hell, after Lionheart and Bellwether, he’d wondered how much he fell into the ‘bigoted’ and ‘incompetent’ categories himself.

Now here he was.

God knew how many corrupt, speciesist, or just plain sociopathic officers were serving under him without him knowing. All Bogo knew was that whenever one of them got found out, as Chief, he’d get the blame.

City Hall’s reputation was going down the drain. Now the County Prosecutor’s Office looked to do the same. Bogo figured that no matter how hard he tried, sooner or later, something would drag the ZPD down with them.

Maybe it’d be something to do with Hopps’ role in the Night Howler Scandal. If that happened, Bogo wouldn’t know what to do. If he hung her out to dry, it’d be for something that – as far as he was concerned – wasn’t her fault. If he stood behind her, he’d look corrupt himself.

Would it be something else? Possibly.

As far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter how many crooked cops he fired – there’d be more. It didn’t matter who was in the Mayor’s Office – if one of their underlings didn’t screw it up, the next Mayor would. It didn’t matter how many would-be reformers tried to make changes – the Department, the politicians, the media, the whole goddamn city was rotten to the core.

And Bogo’s role in all this?

The bull grimaced as he realized he’d gone through three more apples. He pulled a rag out of the drawer, wiped his hooves and mouth, and studied the surface of his desk.

He couldn’t resign now. City Hall would replace him with some yes-mammal, like they would have if he hadn’t accepted the job all those years ago. If he took a harder line against the politicians, at best, they’d sap away his power by having the Commissioner overrule him. At worst, they’d have his badge.

The way Bogo saw it, he was already a crooked cop. If he wasn’t before, he’d become one the moment he became Chief.

Those young officers like Hopps, Wolfard, and (until just now) Koidel all thought they were doing good. For their sakes, Bogo hoped none of them got promoted. It was better they leave the force with their hopes and dreams (somewhat) intact.

And as for Bogo?

Well, what  _ could _ he do? The captain goes down with the ship, as they say. Least he could do was make sure no one else got hurt.


End file.
